On March 25, 2026, about 1,503 BC Hydro customers in View Royal, British Columbia, lost electricity after a strong windstorm moved through the area. The outage affected roughly 13 per cent of the town’s population.
The local loss of power was part of a larger storm on March 24, 2026, that left nearly 60,000 customers across Vancouver Island in the dark. In the areas of Highlands, Saanich, and View Royal, approximately 7,500 people were without electricity at the height of the weather event.
Repair crews were sent to find the cause of the problem and fix the lines. The utility did not give an exact time for when the power would be back on right away, as workers follow a protocol to check the damage on the ground before providing an estimate.
This event follows maintenance work by BC Hydro on the Island Highway earlier this year. The utility is currently working on a 10-year plan to spend $3 billion to replace old power lines and equipment to help prevent future outages in the region.
High winds reaching 90 kilometres per hour were reported during the storm. Environment Canada issued weather warnings for the area, noting that recent dry weather has made trees more likely to break and fall into power lines.
